Episode 13: Squirly Town/Fanboy/HandyCat
The thirteenth and final episode of Random! Cartoons. 'Squirly Town' Created by Doug TenNapel Directed by Doug TenNapel and Mike Dietz 'Synopsis' Straight-laced squirrel Lance gets a splitting headache after his crazy friend Zoopie puts a tarantula in the acorn butter. To cure his pain, Zoopie takes Lance on an adventure that tests the meaning of true friendship. 'Voice Cast' 'Production notes / Changes' Squirly Town was created by Doug TenNapel who was not only working on Nickelodeon's Catscratch but his other Random! short, Solomon Fix. After finishing Solomon, he pitched this to the studio and gained the green-light. Unlike Solomon, this was done traditionally in Pencil Test Studios. Pencil Test has been working with TenNapel on various projects such as Earthworm Jim video game animation and even oversea animation at the Catscratch pilot trailer, even though the series used Rough Draft Studios. 'Trivia' *At the end of the short, you can hear Stephen Root (aka Lance) say "Did I say burrito? I'm so sorry." *Zoopie's flashback scene was based off the destruction flashback scene from the anime film "Akira". Young Lance and Zoopie even spoke in Japanese during the flashback (provided by Keone Young). 'Fanboy' Created by Eric Robels Directed by Shaun Casuman 'Synopsis' Fanboy and his trusty friend Chum Chum set out on a mission to taste test their idol Fan Man's new Frosty Freezie Freeze. When Chum Chum is sidetracked by the evil Ice Monster Bun Bun machine, they must fight Berry the Ice Monster in a thumb war to remain victorious. 'Voice Cast' 'Production notes / Changes' Fanboy was the idea of Eric Robles, a character designer of Nickelodeon's The X's, who pitched it to Nickelodeon and was given the green-light. Originally, Chum Chum wore an outfit very similar to Robin the Boy Wonder but it was changed immediatley due to copyright. Eric Robles did the storyboard, character designs and expressions. The late Don LaFontaine was the announcer in this short. The animation was done at Red Eye Animation Studios, the same studio that did Solomon Fix. The short was green-lit to an animated series for Nickelodeon entitled Fanboy and Chum Chum since they wanted a CG show from the start. However, there were many changes to the series: *Fanboy's grey suit was changed to green. *Chum Chum gained a new outfit and is now voiced by Nika Futterman. *Fanman has been replaced by Man Arctica yet he's still voiced by Jeff Bennett. *Lenny's now African-American with brown hair and is voiced by Wyatt Centric. *The Ice Monster is now short and is friends with Fanboy and Chum Chum, yet the same actor still plays him. *There is no announcer in the series. *More characters such as Kyle the Congurer, Yo and Boog appear in the series as the show gained a new background and more details. Fanboy and Chum Chum was utterly cancelled as it was not mentioned in Nickelodeon's 2013-2014 upfront, with the last episode, Brain Freeze, premiering in July 14, 2014, even though the DVD was released in 2011. 'Trivia' *Lenny's portrayal in this pilot is similar to Napoleon Dynamite. *The two kids in the commercial later appear in the episode "Trading Day". 'HandyCat! in Bees-Nees as Usual' Created by Russ Harris and G. Brian Reynolds Directed by Russ Harris and G. Brian Reynolds 'Synopsis' Handycat and his dog Drillbit are hired to remove an exceptionally large beehive. 'Voice Cast' 'Production notes / Changes' HandyCat was created by independent animators Russ Harris and G. Brian Reynolds, known for their Crawford the Cat cartoons and Mirthworm cartoons, who were the oldest animators working for Frederator Studios. They previously worked with Fred Seibert on their pilot O Ratz!: Rat in a Hot Tin Can for Cartoon Network's What-a-Cartoon! series. They were actually invited by Fred Seibert to pitch to Nickelodeon for their new shorts program, Oh Yeah! Cartoons season 4 (before it became Random!). After several ideas, they chose HandyCat. It was suggested by Larry Huber to choose June Foray for the role as the Woman and she was hired on the spot. Russ Harris voice directed the actors. The animation was done at their home studio Perennial Pictures Film Corporation in Indiapololis, Indiana in Flash. This was their first Flash production being used to doing traditional hand-drawn cel animation for over 30 years. They were suggested by Fred and other friends to use Flash. Most of the characters were hand drawn originally but they were later fully animated in Flash. As of now, their new Crawford cartoons are done in Flash. 'Trivia' *This short had the least amount of actors involved: with only 2. *Some of the short's Flash files (final and non-final) are shown in the Perennial Pictures' website. Category:The Random! Cartoons Wiki